Future High Level Functionality

W3C Patent Policy Working Group:

Please add my voice to the many others who have voiced their dismay
and concern about the W3C seeking to legitimize standards only
implementable by a few and that have pointed out that RAND is not
"Reasonable and Non Discriminatory".  Instead RAND would discriminate
against the software such as Linux, FreeBSD, Sendmail, BIND and
Apache (and the community that built and maintains that software)
that much of the Web and the Internet is currently built on.

The argument that RAND would be avoided in "core" standards and used
in the specifications of "higher-level" functionality is short
sighted.  Ten years ago hypertext and multimedia were not core uses of
the Internet and were certainly higher-level functionality compared to
the main applications of the Internet at that time such as email, ftp
and telnet.

It is vitally important to the success and future innovation on the
Web that the W3C not lend it's endorsement to standards that would
prevent projects such as Apache or Mozilla from implementing those
standards that will be considered core technology in 10 years.  

Instead I urge the W3C to use it's considerable prestige to ensuring
that the Web continues to be open for innovation by all.

Sincerely,
Mark Johnson

Received on Thursday, 11 October 2001 13:12:14 UTC